M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Offering for Cleansing
19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “These are the teachings that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites to get a young red cow that does not have anything wrong with it and that has never been worked. 3 Give the cow to Eleazar the priest; he will take it outside the camp and kill it. 4 Then Eleazar the priest must put some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Meeting Tent. 5 The whole cow must be burned while he watches; the skin, the meat, the blood, and the intestines must all be burned. 6 Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch, and a red string and throw them onto the burning cow. 7 After the priest has washed himself and his clothes with water, he may come back into the camp, but he will be unclean until evening. 8 The man who burns the cow must wash himself and his clothes in water; he will be unclean until evening.
9 “Then someone who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. The Israelites will keep these ashes to use in the cleansing water, in a special ceremony to cleanse away sin. 10 The man who collected the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This is a lasting rule for the Israelites and for the foreigners among them.
11 “Those who touch a dead person’s body will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must wash themselves with the cleansing water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not wash themselves on the third day and the seventh day, they cannot be clean. 13 If those who touch a dead person’s body stay unclean and go to the Lord’s Holy Tent, it becomes unclean; they must be cut off from Israel. If the cleansing water is not sprinkled on them, they are unclean and will stay unclean.
14 “This is the teaching about someone who dies in a tent: Anyone in the tent or anyone who enters it will be unclean for seven days. 15 And every open jar or pot without a cover becomes unclean. 16 If anyone is outside and touches someone who was killed by a sword or who died a natural death, or if anyone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be unclean for seven days.
17 “So you must use the ashes from the burnt offering to make that person clean again. Pour fresh water over the ashes into a jar. 18 A clean person must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water, and then he must sprinkle it over the tent and all its objects. He must also sprinkle the people who were there, as well as anyone who touched a bone, or the body of someone who was killed, or a dead person, or a grave. 19 The person who is clean must sprinkle this water on the unclean people on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day they will become clean. They must wash their clothes and take a bath, and they will be clean that evening. 20 If any who are unclean do not become clean, they must be cut off from the community. Since they were not sprinkled with the cleansing water, they stay unclean, and they could make the Lord’s Holy Tent unclean. 21 This is a lasting rule. Those who sprinkle the cleansing water must also wash their clothes, and anyone who touches the water will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and whoever touches it will be unclean until evening.”
Trusting God for Help
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Dove in the Distant Oak.” A miktam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
56 God, be merciful to me because people are chasing me;
the battle has pressed me all day long.
2 My enemies have chased me all day;
there are many proud people fighting me.
3 When I am afraid,
I will trust you.
4 I praise God for his word.
I trust God, so I am not afraid.
What can human beings do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words;
all their evil plans are against me.
6 They wait. They hide.
They watch my steps,
hoping to kill me.
7 God, do not let them escape;
punish the foreign nations in your anger.
8 You have recorded my troubles.
You have kept a list of my tears.
Aren’t they in your records?
9 On the day I call for help, my enemies will be defeated.
I know that God is on my side.
10 I praise God for his word to me;
I praise the Lord for his word.
11 I trust in God. I will not be afraid.
What can people do to me?
12 God, I must keep my promises to you.
I will give you my offerings to thank you,
13 because you have saved me from death.
You have kept me from being defeated.
So I will walk with God
in light among the living.
A Prayer in Troubled Times
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A miktam of David when he escaped from Saul in the cave.
57 Be merciful to me, God; be merciful to me
because I come to you for protection.
Let me hide under the shadow of your wings
until the trouble has passed.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to the God who does everything for me.
3 He sends help from heaven and saves me.
He punishes those who chase me. Selah
God sends me his love and truth.
4 Enemies, like lions, are all around me;
I must lie down among them.
Their teeth are like spears and arrows,
their tongues as sharp as swords.
5 God is supreme over the skies;
his majesty covers the earth.
6 They set a trap for me.
I am very worried.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they fell into it themselves. Selah
7 My heart is steady, God; my heart is steady.
I will sing and praise you.
8 Wake up, my soul.
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
9 Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing songs of praise about you to all the nations.
10 Your great love reaches to the skies,
your truth to the clouds.
11 God, you are supreme above the skies.
Let your glory be over all the earth.
Assyria Will Come Soon
8 The Lord told me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ 2 I will gather some men to be reliable witnesses: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.”
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she became pregnant and had a son. The Lord told me, “Name the boy Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,[a] 4 because the king of Assyria will take away all the wealth and possessions of Damascus and Samaria before the boy learns to say ‘my father’ or ‘my mother.’”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me, saying,
6 “These people refuse to accept
the slow-moving waters of the pool of Shiloah
and are terrified of Rezin
and Pekah son of Remaliah.
7 So I, the Lord, will bring
the king of Assyria and all his power against them,
like a powerful flood of water from the Euphrates River.
The Assyrians will be like water rising over the banks of the river,
flowing over the land.
8 That water will flow into Judah and pass through it,
rising to Judah’s throat.
Immanuel, this army will spread its wings like a bird
until it covers your whole country.”
9 Be broken, all you nations,
and be smashed to pieces.
Listen, all you faraway countries.
Prepare for battle and be smashed to pieces!
Prepare for battle and be smashed to pieces!
10 Make your plans for the fight,
but they will be defeated.
Give orders to your armies,
but they will be useless,
because God is with us.
Warnings to Isaiah
11 The Lord spoke to me with his great power and warned me not to follow the lead of the rest of the people. He said,
12 “People are saying that others make plans against them,
but you should not believe them.
Don’t be afraid of what they fear;
do not dread those things.
13 But remember that the Lord All-Powerful is holy.
He is the one you should fear;
he is the one you should dread.
14 Then he will be a place of safety for you.
But for the two families of Israel,
he will be like a stone that causes people to stumble,
like a rock that makes them fall.
He will be like a trap for the people of Jerusalem,
and he will catch them in his trap.
15 Many people will fall over this rock.
They will fall and be broken;
they will be trapped and caught.”
16 Make an agreement.
Seal up the teaching while my followers are watching.
17 I will wait for the Lord to help us,
the Lord who is ashamed of the family of Israel.
I will wait for him.
18 I am here, and with me are the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and proofs for the people of Israel from the Lord All-Powerful, who lives on Mount Zion.
19 Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers, who whisper and mutter, what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead? 20 You should follow the teachings and the agreement with the Lord. The mediums and fortune-tellers do not speak the word of the Lord, so their words are worth nothing.
21 People will wander through the land troubled and hungry. When they become hungry, they will become angry and will look up and curse their king and their God. 22 They will look around them at their land and see only trouble, darkness, and awful gloom. And they will be forced into the darkness.
A New Day Is Coming
9 But suddenly there will be no more gloom for the land that suffered. In the past God made the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali hang their heads in shame, but in the future those lands will be made great. They will stretch from the road along the Mediterranean Sea to the land beyond the Jordan River and north to Galilee, the land of people who are not Israelites.
2 Before those people lived in darkness,
but now they have seen a great light.
They lived in a dark land,
but a light has shined on them.
3 God, you have caused the nation to grow
and made the people happy.
And they have shown their happiness to you,
like the joy during harvest time,
like the joy of people
taking what they have won in war.
4 Like the time you defeated Midian,
you have taken away their heavy load
and the heavy pole from their backs
and the rod the enemy used to punish them.
5 Every boot that marched in battle
and every uniform stained with blood
has been thrown into the fire.
6 A child has been born to us;
God has given a son to us.
He will be responsible for leading the people.
His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God,
Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.
7 Power and peace will be in his kingdom
and will continue to grow forever.
He will rule as king on David’s throne
and over David’s kingdom.
He will make it strong
by ruling with justice and goodness
from now on and forever.
The Lord All-Powerful will do this
because of his strong love for his people.
Love All People
2 My dear brothers and sisters, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never think some people are more important than others. 2 Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. 3 You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes and say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit on the floor by my feet.” 4 What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others, and with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better.
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him. 6 But you show no respect to the poor. The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court. 7 And they are the ones who speak against Jesus, who owns you.
8 This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”[a] If you obey this law, you are doing right. 9 But if you treat one person as being more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law. 10 A person who follows all of God’s law but fails to obey even one command is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. 11 The same God who said, “You must not be guilty of adultery,”[b] also said, “You must not murder anyone.”[c] So if you do not take part in adultery but you murder someone, you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law. 12 In everything you say and do, remember that you will be judged by the law that makes people free. 13 So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment.
Faith and Good Works
14 My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. 16 If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. 17 In the same way, faith by itself—that does nothing—is dead.
18 Someone might say, “You have faith, but I have deeds.” Show me your faith without doing anything, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too, and they tremble with fear.
20 You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? 21 Abraham, our ancestor, was made right with God by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. 22 So you see that Abraham’s faith and the things he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. 23 This shows the full meaning of the Scripture that says: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”[d] And Abraham was called God’s friend.[e] 24 So you see that people are made right with God by what they do, not by faith only.
25 Another example is Rahab, a prostitute, who was made right with God by something she did. She welcomed the spies into her home and helped them escape by a different road.
26 Just as a person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead, so faith that does nothing is dead!
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.